NELSON SOUTH-WEST GOLDFIELDS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 491, 15 April 1869, Page 2

NELSON SOUTH-WEST GOLDFIELDS.

PEOPOSED sepaeation PEOM nelson PEOVINCE. petition to the GENEEAL ASSEMBLY. To THE HoNOBABLE THE HOUSE OF Eepbesentatives in the Colony of New Zealand, in Pabliasient Assembled, The Humble Petition of the Eegistered Electors, Electors, and Inhabitants resident in that part of the Province of Nelson comprised within the undermentioned boundaries, and called " The Nelson SouthWest Goldfields," whose names are hereunder written or hereunto annexed,

Eespectfellt Sheweth, That the ' Nelson South-West Goldfields' comprises all the land within the line commencing at Wika-Kura Point, on the sea coast in the Province of Nelson, thence following the boundary of the Collin gwood Goldfields to Mount Arthur, thence in a straight line to Mount Owen, thence along the top of the ranges eastward of the river Hope, to its junction with the Puller, thence to the nearest peak of range forming the Watershed between the river Howard and Lake Potaroa, thence along the top of the range to Mount Travers, thence along the top of the range to Mount Mackay and Mount Pranklyn, thence along the top of the range of the Spencer Mountains to Travers Peak, thence following the Watershed to the Saddle between the heads of the Tercmakau and Huruuui rivers, thence by the northern boundary of the County of Westland to the mouth of the river Grey on the seacoast, thence along the sea-coast to Wika-Kura Point. That the ' Nelson South-West Goldfields' compi-ises an area of 3,400,000 acres, and has a length of coast-line of 130_ miles, and is intersected by several navigable rivers. That according to the last census return the population of the ' Nelson South-West Goldfields' was 10,011, for the most part adult and producing : the population of the whole Province of Nelson being 23,814. That the population of the ' Nelson South-West Goldfields' has considerably increased since the taking of the census in December, 1807, and now your petitioners fully believe equals the pop illation of the remaining part of the Province. That the ' Nelson South-West Goldfields' abounds in mineral resources, auriferous deposits already having been discovered in almost every portion of it as well as very extensive Coalfields at Cobden, Mount Eochfort, and Mohikiuui. That in the year ISGS the value of the imports of the ' Nelson South-AVcst Goldfields' was £193,595 i —namely, at the port of Wcstport £99,166, and at the port of Greymouth £94,229. That in the year IS6B the value of the exports of tho 'Nelson SouthWest Goldfields' was £505,714: — namely, Westport, £515,463, Brighton £58,038, and Greymouth £229,313. That the revenue derived from the 'Nelson South-West Goldfields'from all sources, during the year IS6B, as far as your Petitioners have been able to ascertain from the limited means at their disposal, was not less that £IOO,OOO. That tho total revenue derived from the 'Nelson South-West Goldfields' by the Nelson Provincial Government, from November 30th, 1866, up to the end of 1868 was certainly not less than £150,055 lis. 9d., there being also a balance to the credit of tho ' Nelson South-West Goldfields' on the said November 30th, of £23,592 9s. 4d. That there has been expended in departmental expenses and public works on the ' Nelson South-West Goldfields' from November 30th, 1566, to December 31st, IS6B, only the sum of £114,450 135., leaving a balance of £59,497 Bs. Id. inclusive of the said £23.892 9s. 45., which, your Petitioners are of opinion, should have been also expended during that time in the 'Nelson South-AVest Goldfields.' That tho Provincial Council of the Province of Nelson, in Session XVIII, appropriated for the year ending 31st March, 1869, no less a sum than £58,910 for ' Public AVorks and Purposes,' to be expended in that part of the Province not included in tho ' Nelson South-AVest Goldfields,' while your Petitioners confidently assert, from calculations they have made, that the total revenue, from all sources, of that part of the Province would not have exceeded, according to the most liberal estimate, £30,000. That in the said Session onlv £25,500 was voted for ' Public AVorks' for the 'Nelson South-AVesfc Goldfields,' while the said ' Nelson SouthWest Goldfields' does not contribute less than two-thirds of the total revenue of the whole Province. That, even of the £25,500 thus voted, not nearly the whole of it has been expended, although many public works have been, and are, urgently required to be done. That the expenditure of the several sums that have from time to time been voted by the Provincial Council for j Public AVorks' on the 'Nelson SouthWest Goldfields' has been in many cases injudicious and wasteful, and not in such manner as was best calculated to open up the 'Nelson South-West Goldfields' to the enterprising efforts

of the miner, as would have been the case had your Petitioners had the control of such expenditure. That a considerable portion of the revenues collected from your Petitioners has been expended by the Provincial Government of the Province of Nelson under the authority of the Council thereof in inaugurating chimerical and quixotic schemes in that part of the Province outside of the 1 Nelson South-West Goldfields,' which schemes, if carried to a successful issue, could be of no possible advantage to your Petitioners. That your Petitioners are of opinion that the expenditure of their revenues, in the manner above stated, for the aggrandisement and improvement of other districts, is wrongful and unjust to your Petitioners, calculated to retard the progress of the ' Nelson SouthWest Goldfields,' and to stagnate the efforts of your Petitioners in developing its vast resources.

That your Petitioners are of opinion that to develope the boundless resources of the ' Nelson South-West Goldfields' and encourage the industries of its inhabitants, the revenues derived therein should be expended in improving the communication from its several ports to its auriferous districts, and in public works calculated to facilitate the operations and generally to promote the convenience of the mining population, and that the expenditure should be, comparatively speaking, equal, as far as practicable in the sevei'al auriferous districts, to the revenue derived therefrom respectively; but the Provincial Council of the Province of Nelson in 1865, as appears by the papers and proceedings for that year, distinctly disaffirmed this policy, and the Provincial Government have ever since that time acted in accordance with the views of the said Couuoil.

That your Petitioners are induced to believe that the policy heretofore adopted towards them in the expenditure of their revenues will be continued, inasmuch as His Honor the Superintendent, in his opening address to the Provincial Council in ISG7, amongst other things said—" I cannot concur in the view which is commonly expressed on the part of the mining community that the whole of t'.ie gross revenue derived either directly or indirectly from their industrial occupation of the waste lands ot the Crown is necessarily and as a matter of right to be expended in that particular part of the Province whence that revenue is derived." And the Council, in reply thereto, affirmed the policy contained therein.

That the Provincial Council of the Province of Nelson consists of twentysix members, namely—live returned by the 'Nelson South-West C-oldfields,' having a population of 10,011, and twenty-one by the remaining part of the Province, having a population of 13,208 only. That your Petitioners being thus, comparatively speaking, unrepresented in the said Council are unable to exercise that influence upon its votes and proceedings which, having regard to their numbers and to the revenue collected from them, they are justly entitled to.

That the said Council, being composed, for the most part, of members returned by a class of electors whose interests are entirely dissimilar to the interests of your Petiitonei-s, the proceedings of the said Council are confined (with the exception of the appropriation of the revenue) almost exclusively to legislative enactments affecting that part of the said Province not included in the ' Nelson SouthWest Goldfields.'

That, consequently, as far as your Petitioners are concerned, the said Council is an expensive and useless burden from which they derive no benefit or advantage whatsoever, but, on the contrary, by which their revenues are despoiled, and their interests sacrificed to the preponderating influence of the inhabitants of the remaining part of the Province. That your Petitioners are informed by the Provincial Government organ that the Government intend to submit to the Nelson Provincial Council, during its next session, ' A Bill to determine the number of members of the Provincial Council, and to appoint Electoral Districts in the Province of Nelson,' which bill, should it become la\v, will reduce the number of members in the said Council to nineteen, fourteen of whom to be elected in.fhe several districts outside the ' Nelson South-West Goldfields.'

That your Petitioners contend that they are entitled to equal representation in the said Council with tho inhabitants of the remaining part of the Province, and are not disposed to accept the said bill as a satisfaction of their claims in this matter.

That your Petitioners therefore despair of obtaining a redress of their grievances by the said Council, and are satisfied that if the existing form of Provincial Government should continue in the ' Nelson South-"West Goldfields,' the colonizing efforts of your Petitioners will be frustrated, and tie development of one of the richest parts of the colony retarded, if not altogether prevented. That the office of Goldfields Commissioner has been abolished, thus leaving the district without any resident authoritative or responsible representative of the Provincial Government causing great delay, inconvenience, and dissatisfaction, in dealing with matters of importance and emergency. That this district, apart from the large auriferous deposits which have been already developed, is known to possess vast fields for miners which might be laid open under a judiciouf

■ system of expenditure, and, besides I this, the large and valuable seams oi I coal at Mount Bochfort and other places only require the fostering which would naturally ensue had the residents I in the district the power to direct into I useful channels the revenues now I diverted to support a comparatively I non-progressing and certainly nonI producing community. \ That jour Petitioners believe that I they would soon be in a position to j provide for the pressing wants of the district, and at an early day cause the ■opening up of the country and the development of more permanent sources of national wealth than even those at present worked, if they had the control and expenditure of their own revenues, instead of those revenues being manipulated by persons at a distance, possessing no knowledge of the wants of the district and having no interest in

its progress, if not, in fact, entertaining actual antagonism to its ultimate

and permanent advancement. That the population in the various towns comprised in this district are becoming more and more settled, and they number amongst their residents men whose ability and experience render them fit to administer their own affairs, and in whom the community could and would have every confidence both by reason of their competence and the all-potent influence of*a personal and pecuniary interest in the advancement and prosperity of the district,

That jour Petitioners, from the facts above stated, conceive that they have shown that in no respect does their connection with the Province of Nelson contribute to the welfare of the district iu which they live, or to the advantage of the General Government; and they, therefore, confidently but respectfully claim the constitutional and peculiarly valued privilege of British subjects of receiving and disbursing their own revenues, instead of haviuo-

their revenues received by an alien and distant body, and by them systematically and unblushingly diverted in favor of a moribund system and organization, which, according to the Superintendeut's own words in ISG7, the Gold Producei;s "rescued from impending financial difficulties of no ordinary character."

Your Petttioxers therefore humbly pray that your Honorable House will eausc an Act of the General Assembly to be passed, abolishing Provincial Government so far as regards the present' Nelson SouthWest Goldfields,' constituting the said 'Nelson South- . . "West Goldfields' a County, and creating the inhabitants thereof a body corporate (under the name of the " County Council and Inhabitants of the County of ,") with like powers, jurisdictions, functions, and authorities as are now possessed and exercised by the County Council of the County of AVestland. AjSD your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.